stephanie truong talked about the global impact. kris sanchez talks about how the president is reacting. we begin with richard engel. he has the latest developments, including details of an attack at the u.s. embassy in cairo, all prompted by an anti-muslim film made in america. >> reporter: here demonstrators rose up. they were agitated. they were infuriated that an internet video had been posted online, even though it had been posted online some time ago, ridiculing islam, ridiculing its prophet muhammad. those demonstrators went to the u.s. embassy. they scaled a wall. they pulled down a flag. they didn't hurt anybody inside. in benghazi, the more we learn about it, the less like that it seemed. it was a commando-style raid in benghazi where militants may have been angry about this same video, but they clearly moved in with a military-style tactic.

they had rpgs. the attack on the consulate was carried thought two waves. that's the kind of thing in benghazi that is carried out by a militant group, by a terrorist group, by al qaeda potentially. and u.s. officials are looking into that right now. also wondering was it just a coincidence that the u.s. ambassador, who is normally based in tripoli, happened to be in benghazi at the very time of the attack. so a lot of questions. but it's clear now that these were two very different incidents. a spontaneous uprising that resulted in no casualties here in cairo, and a guerrilla assault in benghazi that killed the u.s. ambassador. richard engel, nbc news, cairo. >> the story is obviously global, but the emotion is very local. ambassador stevens went to piedmont high school and then to uc berkeley. tonight his friends and family are trying to cope with the sudden loss. jodi hernandez continues our coverage now from berkeley.

jodi? >> reporter: raj, stevens studied history here at uc berkeley. the chancellor says he had a passion for making the world a better and more peaceful place. perhaps nowhere is his loss being felt more tonight than here in the east bay. >> just couldn't believe it. went through the usual denial, kind of hoping that wasn't the chris stevens. but of course i knew he was in libya. so it had to be him. >> reporter: george sharpenberger spent the day thinking about his friend and fellow peace corps member chris stevens. the two served together in the peace corps in the '80s. the uc berkeley grad taught english to kids in a small moroccan town. sharpenberger says even back then stevens dreamed of becoming an ambassador. >> he fell in love with morocco and that part of the world. it was kind of a spark that shaped the rest of his career. >> reporter: the east bay native went on to study law at uc hastings in san francisco.

>> if he was in town, he would pop in my office or leave a card or something. >> reporter: law professor david levine kept in touch with his former student through the years. the dean says he is not at all surprised stevens gave his life trying to save others. >> he could have literally sent in the marines there is a battalion there protecting the embassy. he didn't do that. he wanted to be there. he wanted to go take his people, get them back to safety. he knew he was taking a risk. he went and did it any way. what more do you need to know? those who know the east bay native say they're proud of him. and they say the bay area and the world has lost someone truly special. >> if this country wanted to send out the best of our country, they epitomized the best of our country, they couldn't do better than chris stevens. he was that kind, just a good guy. >> reporter: now i had a chance to talk briefly with stevens' sister-in-law this morning. she told me that his mother and stepfather were on the way home from a trip in yosemite. they say the entire family was

gathering together to process what has happened. reporting live in berkeley, i'm jodi hernandez, nbc bay area news. now to the global implications from the attack. one expert at stanford's hoover institution is saying the impact could be devastating. nbc bay area's stephanie truong joins us live from stanford. stephanie, he believes the attack could have been prevented? >> reporter: and janelle, that's right. well spoke with thomas henrichs and a fellow senior at the hoover institution who said both the u.s. government and the libyan government could have done more on a sensitive date, the anniversary of 9/11. perhaps more security at american embassy, especially in the middle east. he adds that al qaeda leaders had warned a couple of months ago that its operatives would strike around this time. and above all else, though, he is stressing that no matter who or what set that attack off, this shows just how much instability is plaguing libya. ambassador christopher stevens had a good relationship with the new government out of benghazi

supporting those rebels who were trying to oust gadhafi. the fact that he was one of the victims henrichson says shows that the new government does not have control and it is so unstable that it could spell trouble for the u.s. >> it's going to have a negative impact, at least initially, because the united states will be very wary of libya. they'll be very wary of the fact are they being told one thing by the government that wants to cozy up, wants american money. yet on the other hand are they encouraging elements, or at least giving them a certain tolerance to operate. we've seen that happen in egypt where the government will say one thing in english to us and another thing in arabic to its followers and other people in the world. one of the things to look for, do they really round up these people? are they tried? are they brought to justice? if that doesn't happen, that's a pretty good sign that the government is either complicit or doesn't want to be bothered very much. >> reporter: and henrichson

warns that the u.s. cannot afford to leave this alone or lose any focus or sight of this, especially as we get deeper into our presidential election season. losing focus, again. coming up tonight at 6:00 on nbc bay area, we hear from an expert also here at stanford university who warns that the things that american leaders need to pay most attention to actually happened outside of libya. live on this stanford campus, stephanie truong, nbc bay area news. >> stephanie, thank you. talk about the election there is a ripple effect on the campaign trail. early this morning, mitt romney issued a statement followed by an on-camera comment. that came before a planned announcement from president obama. nbc bay area's kris sanchez joins us from the newsroom. chris, the comments, protocol and perception, this could be a bit risky for governor romney. >> reporter: as you mentioned, the presidential candidate mitt romney was very quick to respond. too quick many people say. democrats and even some republicans say this was not the time for politics. in the rose garden this morning, president obama with secretary

of state hillary clinton at his side condemned last night's killing of the american ambassador and three of his staff members and promised action. >> we're working with the government of libya to secure our diplomats. i've also directed my administration to increase our security at diplomatic posts around the world. and make no mistake, we will work with the libyan government to bring to justice the killers who attacked our people. >> reporter: now before the president ever issued that statement, mitt romney accused him of making an apology for american values and of sending mixed signals in the wake of the attacks. romney was referring to a statement issued by the u.s. embassy in cairo on tuesday urging people not to stir up anti-muslim sentiment in response to an on cure muslim internet video. although the obama administration distanced itself from that embassy statement, saying that it did not reflect administration policy, romney did not accept that. >> the white house distanced itself last night from the

statement saying it wasn't cleared by washington that reflects the mixed signals they're sending to the world. >> reporter: some critics are accusing romney of politicizing the attack in benghazi, and in the process showing a lack of foreign policy experience. many republicans, including former secretary of state condoleezza rice and senator john mccain condemned the embassy attack without getting political. but a former ambassador who served under both republican george w. bush and democrat bill clinton said, quote, i just think that governor romney has in a very unwise way injected himself into a situation where he clearly doesn't have all of the fax. again, that's former ambassador r. nicholas burns. in response to romney's attack, president obama told "60 minutes" tonight that romney seems to have a tendency to shoot first and aim later, and that he will let the american people decide whether romney's attacks were irresponsible. in the newsroom, kris sanchez, nbc bay area news. >> kris, thank you. in response to we should say now there will be a candlelight

vigil for stevens at his old fraternity house at cal, the alpha tau omega house. it starts at 9:00 tonight. our colleagues on "nightly news" will have much more on the story following our newscast. "nightly news" begins in about 20 minutes at 5:30. now to big technology news. the unveiling of apple's latest iphone. less than a year after we got a look at the 4s we are now introduced to the iphone 5. our business and tech reporter scott budman was at the unveiling in san francisco this morning. he joins us from apple headquarters in cupertino with the latest specs. hey, scott. >> reporter: hey, as the world's most valuable company, everything that apple does and the gadgets it introduces gets international attention. today a brand-new iphone, part of a lineup of devices aimed at your holiday shopping lists. >> and this is iphone 5. >> the newest iphone is thinner and lighter with a half inch

added to the screen size. >> you can see he is lifting his arm and the ninja is noticing that. >> reporter: which along with a better camera and extra microphone gives app makers new technology to work with. >> also, there is now a new microphone on the iphone. so now with three mics, i think the thought is what can we do with all three of those. as you know, we use the mic that it can flow into your phone. i wonder what new kinds of mayhem we can create with this. >> reporter: backed by foo fighters, apple also rolled out new music for its upcoming holiday lineup. >> and it transforms beautifully -- >> reporter: a revamped itunes and new ipods, also with improved cameras inside. >> that really sets them up to go against the point and shoots and the point and click cameras out there. and it's versatile. because point and clicks are point and clips. this has music. this has video, and an exceptional camera.

>> reporter: but the star of the show was the iphone 5. lighter, faster, and soon to be snatched up by faithful fans. if you're interested in the iphone 5, you preorder it starting september 14th. they good on sale september 21st, depending on how much storage you want, the iphone 5 will cost from $199 to $399. reporting live at apple headquarters in cupertino, scott budman, nbc bay area news. >> the latest hot gadget. okay, thanks, scott. and sales of the 4s are definitely strong, but the company actually lost its lead in the smartphone industry this year to samsung. msung's sales surged thanks to the galaxy s3 which came out in june while apple was still selling the iphone 4s released last october. meantime, amazon, nokia and motorola have tried to steal some of the spotlight by debuting several new products within the last week. just ahead, an increase in burglaries on the peninsula.

find out where the break-ins are becoming more of a problem and what police are doing about it. plus, a possible breakthrough in the battle against hiv. the latest on the prevention pill made here in the bay area. and good afternoon. i'm jeff ranieri in the nbc bay area weather center. a little bit warmer out there today, and a lot of sunshine after some morning fog and also airport delays. right now 86 in livermore, and also 75 in napa. and as that temperature starts to heat up the next 48 hours, air quality will suffer. we'll tell you how hot it will get in just a few. [ laughter ] [ girl ] wow. you guys have it easy.

i wish i had u-verse when i was your age. in my day, we didn't have these fancy wireless receivers. blah, blah, blah. if i had a sleepover, i couldn't just move the tv into the playroom. no, we had to watch movies in the den because that's where the tv outlet was. and if dad was snoring on the couch, we muscled through it. is she for real? your generation has it made. [ male announcer ] the wireless receiver. only from at&t u-verse. get a free wireless receiver with a qualifying u-verse plan. rethink possible. get a free wireless receiver with a qualifying u-verse plan. ♪ [ folksy whistling ]] [ man ] quitting is a fight you can't let yourself lose. it can take many tries. but keep trying, you will beat smoking. honey, you okay? yeah, i'm fine.

♪ [ ukulele ] continuing coverage now of last week's deadly shooting of a chp officer kenyon youngstrom. court papers are telling us more about the gunman, 36-year-old christopher lacy. a warrant filed by police indicates detectives seized four computer towers and two laptops from the software engineer's home. it also revuls the grueling

commute lacy had with his new job at a sunnyvale high-tech company, 200 miles each way. he left his home at 5:00 a.m. the morning of the shooting. neighbors tell the san jose mercury news lacy was a loner who didn't like living in the busy bay area. it's still not known why lacy shot the officer after what detectives say was a ten-second conversation. in health matters, new research from uc san francisco suggests an hiv pill made here in the bay area may work better at preventing infections than previously thought. truvada is a drug to treat hiv that was approved earlier this year for those at high risk of becoming infected. it is supposed to be taken daily, but researchers found that the drug was highly effective when patients skipped days. it turns out that the whooping cough vaccine doesn't offer long-term protection against the disease. the study from kaiser permanente compared data on nearly 10,000 children. they found protection from the

disease waned after the last dose was given around age five. it is given in five doses usually before kids start kindergarten. research suggests the current vaccine needs to be reformulated. a retired priest will not face perjury charges. father jaerld lindner told the jury that he had never molested anyone, but lynch said he was molested by the father as a little boy, and that's why he beat him up decades later in retaliation. lynch was acquitted, even though he admitted to the attack. as for father gerald lindner, he did lie on the stand but a perjury charge is difficult to prove. keep your doors and windows locked. that's the advice police are giving in the normally very safe palo alto. today the police department released new crime statistics and show burglaries have hit a five-year high. most are happening in the northwest and southeast parts of the city. there were 26 in august. you can see whereby the green dots, and five burglaries so far

in september, as indicated by the red dots. that's a jump of 50% over last year. police are reminding everyone to lock their window and doors. they're also increasing patrols in the day when they say these burglaries are happening. nighttime car break-ins are also on the rise. a local environmental group has just released its list of the bay area's biggest trash hot spots. and there are many. the environmental group called save the bay says here in the bay area, the worst spots include the damon slough in oakland, baxter creek in richmond, the hayward shoreline, coyote creek in san jose, and santa mosakino creek. the report claims these sites are so bad that they violate the clean air act. the annual california coastal cleanup day is this saturday there are several volunteer events that are scheduled throughout the bay area. so if you want to participate, jump on board. >> we'll have more on that at 6:00 with our reporter arturo santiago. from trash to treasure, take a look at our forecast.

we check in with jeff ranieri. >> a little warmer, numbers going up two to three degrees. we have the marine layer offshore, but it's having a tough time pushing in with more of this offshore flow trying to develop. for some of you, it did get hotter. walnut creek 89. gilroy 88. lafayette 85. and south san jose currently at 84. now right now we're starting to see numbers drop off here across the bay with some widespread 60s. across the east bay, your shelter from any kind of onshore wind, holding on to the 80s at the current moment. let's take you outside of the live sky camera network. we do have lots of sunshine, but that haze, it's on the increase as air quality will begin to suffer here throughout the next two days as temperatures get even hotter. all right. then up into san francisco, we have some fog, but it's not as built up as it was this time yesterday. so the offshore wind is trying to really battle this onshore wind. and eventually, it looks like that dryer wind will win out. all right. let's bring you back into the weather boards and get you this

overhead view of what is happening in the next 48 hours. it's all about high pressure building in from the south. it looks like it could be some of the hottest weather since september 3rd when we had mid-90s here across the bay area. here is the thing. it's not only going to provide slight offshore winds with us, we have so much hot they're the upper levels that eventually thursday into friday it will translate down to the surface, and that's when we could get a warm-up at the coastline. instead of 50s and 60s, look more to 60s and 70s at the coast and a few areas of fog. for interior valleys, warm things up by the bay to the 80 and the interior valleys 90s. so temps on the rise on thursday. and as we head throughout friday, well, it's going to stay hot. fog forecast for the morning hours. does have some fog at the coastline. also near the north bay. we're going to clear out by all indications on the early side. 10:00 to 11:00 in the morning, we're expecting widespread sunshine across the bay. daytime highs on thursday will top out. warm here in the south bay. definitely not uncomfortable.

86 in san jose. 88 in evergreen. 90 in morgan hill, 91 in gilroy. the hottest widespread location in the tri-valley. 93 in walnut creek. 94 in concord, one of the hottest. 89 in dublin. 92 in livermore. 92 in antioch. and 70s by the bay. castro valley somewhere in between per normal, expecting 83. san francisco should go in the low 70s with 82 in vallejo. 75 in oakland mid-80s up into santa rosa. three-day forecast has low 90s for the interior valleys, all the way through saturday. a few 70s mixed in at the coastline. and then as we head into next week, here is the thing to note. take a look at that. by wednesday, temperatures are expected to decrease right now there is a little bit of an indication that we may actually get a little bit of shower activity developing offshore. right now it's too early to tell whether that could bring us some rainfall to the bay area. but we are watching that as fall will be in less than a week as we head into next week. >> we're used to the freaky

showers. we had some last week? >> yes. freaky showers. i like that. >> your new weather term. >> it mixes things up. thanks, jeff. >> thanks, jeff. maybe the most profitable car chase ever, no kidding. that's money being thrown out of a car. we'll show you the rest, next.

the popular air races in reno get started today one year after that deadly crash. the world war ii era plane crashed near the stands last september, killing 11 people. this year race organizers have implemented changes recommended by the ntsb. they include adjustments to the course, which will make the turns less sharp and keep planes at a safer distance from spectators there is also been a greater focus on pilot safety training. the air show runs through sunday. oh, look at the money, look at the money. >> yes we see the money down there. suspected bank robbers tossing wads of cash from a speeding

suv. it kept tv audiences in los angeles glued to their sets. this happened this morning, unfolded on live tv. it also led to the suspects' capture. for 20 minutes this black volvo drove in circles throughout that neighborhood southwest of downtown l.a., literally tossing cash, so often that residents ran out of their homes hoping to cash. in the streets grew more crowded with cars and people, and eventually, you see that volvo turned into a bottleneck, forcing it to stop. police immediately hustled the two men, put them in the patrol car as the crowd closed in. there was a lot of close calls, but thankfully, no one was hurt. police say they found a gun and a knife in the car. no word yet on what happens to the money picked up by all those people. >> i think police want it bam. >> they'll be knocking on the doors. we'll be back in a moment.

let's get a look at what is coming up on nbc bay area. >> jessica aguirre is in the newsroom with the rundown. >> good evening, raj and janelle. up next, more on the embassy attacks in libya. plus, a look at a new program designed to get more men into american classrooms as teachers. and then new at 6:00 tonight, a look at poverty and health care in the bay area. we uncover some of the reasons behind why in a community that is so wealthy, so many have so little. those stories and a humorous look at iphone mania. that's when raj joins me at 6:00. >> there is a new iphone? >> there is a new iphone. >> didn't hear about it. >> i bet jeff ranieri is going to get his hands on one. you always have the latest gadgets. >> i can't wait. i've been longing at pictures all day long. >> we'll see you at 6:00 for more local news. >> good night.